Ed corney seems to be top of quite a few peoples lists. How many out there actually seen him pose or are they going off a 30 second pumping iron snip and Arnold's 'now, Thats what I call posing' quote.
Don't get me wrong. Ed may well have been a great poser but when people say he wins easily I am interested to know how objective they are, especially when there are so many good posers around: Ladrada,anthony,charles,taylor,levrone, Paris, zane.............
You know, you ask a very legitimate and intereting question . . . I too have only seen small snippets of Ed "in action", as well as a lot of still photos of his posing . . . I guess I base my opinion on asking the people who were there and who actually saw him do "his thing" . . . and I'm NOT referring to Arnold's comments in Pumping Iron . . . because honestly, that cutaway in the movie always annoyed me, I'd much rather see more of the Olympia prejudging than see Arnold's reaction shots . . .
Since starting Ed's website, I have heard from MANY who were lucky enough to see his posing routines during the prime of his career. Here's Reg Park on Ed's routine at the 1977 Olympia: "Never before in my long bodybuilding life have I witnessed similar spontaneous audience reaction" At one point during Corney's presentation he thought the audience would storm the stage. "Can you believe four thousand excited people on their feet screaming Cor-nee, Cor-nee, Cor-nee? I tell you it was downright frightening".
Just a few weeks ago I spoke with Danny Padilla and this is what he had to say: "Every time Eddie did a routine he got a standing ovation. All of us get a standing ovation maybe once in our career . . . but boy, Eddie got a standing ovation every time he posed. Eddie was 'the man' when it came to that."
Ed recently told me that he developed his routine up to the point where he would do five minutes without repeating a single pose. He would practice for hours a day, months prior to a competition.
At the Masters' Olympia he got a five minute standing ovation at the Pre-Judging (it wasn't even the night show!) . . . so I guess, like many who weren't there, I defer to those that witnessed his performances.
I think it's also worth mentioning that the little bit of Ed's posing that they did leave in the final cut of the "Pumping Iron" movie is so majestic and amazing that even though the sequences are so abbreviated, they have left an impression on so many of us for so many years.
- Joel
http://www.EdCorney.net
